Serving Delicious Fare with Flare

A Charcuterie Tray Tutorial

In home décor, transitional may be trending, but in the world of entertaining, charcuterie trays are what’s hot.

Charcuterie (SHär-kootərē) is the art of preparing cured or smoked meats, and the charcuterie tray is the savory and aesthetic way of presenting those meats. Needing a foodie fix for the upcoming holidays, we decided to do a quick tutorial on putting together the perfect tray for your table.

Whether creating a small tray for a special family meal or serving guests at a holiday soirée, the basics are the same. Obviously, you start with the tray. Lucky for us, we are a décor company and have a great selection to choose from. Here are a few of our food safe favorites:

The best thing about charcuterie boards is that the possibilities are endless. Change a few ingredients and you have something new every time.

The basic elements are smoked or cured meats, cheeses, crackers or bread and fresh or dried fruits and nuts. You won’t want to just throw these onto the tray though. A little creativity must be incorporated to give it the wow factor. Here are a few things to consider:

1. Give your tray some “pop” by adding delicious fresh fruits or veggies or using colorful bowls to hold dips, spreads and jellies.
2. Think about color and texture. Having a good variety will make your presentation more interesting to peruse. Have colorful jams or spreads next to dry nuts or crackers, shiny kalamata olives next to a crusty brie.
3. Did you ever take an art class and talk about composition? Well now is your chance to use that skill. Arrange your ingredients in an aesthetically pleasing way, balancing color and texture across the tray.

For our charcuterie tray, we used turkey summer sausage, Chianti red wine salami, prosciutto wrapped mozzarella, mango fire cheddar, pico de queso cheddar, and three Spanish cheeses – Iberico, Cabra al Vino and Manchego. To harmonize flavors with the meats and cheeses, we used cornichon pickles, candied walnuts and roasted marcona almonds with rosemary. For the tray, we used our Normandy cheese serving plate with knife (23299).

As our Elf on a Shelf, TimTam, can attest to, everything was delicious. We wish you flavorful fun as you prepare for your holiday feasting.